Teaching your child to swim

Every parent wants their child to swim for various reasons, the main one being that they want their child to be able to get out of trouble if they find themselves in the water. This is why swimming lessons are important to the parent.

Teaching children to swim is a challenging task unless the child is a ‘natural in the water’. Unfortunately for the parents there are not many of those about.

When giving swimming lessons, to help the child to understand the techniques, it needs a softly, softly approach, together with play, to give the child the understanding that the water will carry them. Because it is not always possible to explain a technique to them, the art of play is important so they get the message and realise what you are trying to get them to achieve.

This can be done in various ways during the lessons, playing with them in the water or using objects that they find fun so the water will not seem too daunting.

Usually the attention span is small. Half an hour is the maximum and the whole time should be in an upbeat manner, never shouting or making the child feel that he/she is a failure.

I find that one to one in the water is valuable because the child will not feel embarrassed if he feels scared.

My private pool is available for your child and they will be the only child in the pool. This way your child knows that his/her swimming lesson is important to them, to you and their instructor whilst at the same time the pool is small enough not to be intimidating.